Single crystal of LiInSe2 semiconductor for neutron detector

Abstract

Single crystals of semiconductor-grade lithium indium selenide (LiInSe2) were grown using the vertical Bridgman method. The orthorhombic structure of the materials was verified using powder x-ray diffraction. The room temperature band gap of the crystal was found to be 2.85 eV using optical absorption measurements. Resistivity of LiInSe2, obtained using current-voltage measurements, has semiconducting nature (decreases with increasing temperature) and is in order of 1010 Ω·cm. Photoconductivity measurement showed the photocurrent peak at 445 nm. Nuclear radiation devices were fabricated, and alpha particle detection was observed, suggesting that this material could be a candidate for neutron detection applications.

Scintillation properties of semiconducting 6LiInSe2 crystals to ionizing radiation

“…Similarly, the red crystal exhibited relatively broad emission at lower energies with a peak emission centered around 662 nm. These transitions were also observed in the work done by Cui et al and have been assigned to donoracceptor pair (DAP) transitions [18,25]. The comparison of the red crystal XEOL response to the yellow crystal XEOL response is displayed in Fig.…”

“…This makes scintillating semiconductors excellent detection material templates of study. The absorption edge for LiInSe 2 at room temperature is reported to be around 2.8 eV, introducing the opportunity to explore nonproportionality in selenides and in a forbidden energy gap regime that has not yet been explored [17,25]. Indeed, due to its unique composition as a solid state material structurally incorporating lithium-6, 6 LiInSe 2 should provide the capability for neutron capture events to be observed and cleanly separated from the natural radioactivity of its neighboring constituents in the host in natural abundance, because of its large Q-value of 4.78 MeV, for the thermal neutron capture event.…”

Structure and optical properties of Li2Ga2GeS6 nonlinear crystal

“…Because of strong temperature quenching and low PL intensity at room temperature it is difficult to consider Li 2 Ga 2 GeS 6 promising as a conventional scintillator. However lithium presence in their structure makes possible Li 2 Ga 2 GeS 6 usage also as a low-temperature scintillator or working material od semiconducting detector of neutrons or solar axions because of their high interaction cross-section with Li [23]. For such applications Li 2 Ga 2 GeS 6 should be enriched in 6 Li.…”

Neutron Imaging with Timepix Coupled Lithium Indium Diselenide

“…Approaching the device limits, the scientific community sought to develop a material integrating direct neutron detection with semiconductor operation. Initial research focused on synthesis of a single crystal, neutron sensitive material [11,12], to provide complementary capabilities to silicon or germanium based semiconductor photon detection systems. While experimenting with lithium containing chalcogenides, it was determined lithium indium diselenide exhibited neutron sensitivity while operating as a room-temperature semiconductor [13].…”